Some heretofore-skeptical commentators are declaring that February 28 is the date Donald Trump truly became president of the United States. That might signal some good news, but it was closely followed by bad: March 1 could go down as the date of death of the Tea Party movement in America.
The day after President Trump made his first address to Congress, I received an email with the subject line “PRESS: Tea Party Responds to President Trump’s Address.” Here’s the email in its entirety:
This is a stunning—and nearly substanceless—statement from a group that has prided itself on pushing politicians on both sides of the aisle to rethink the growth of government. After all, as TWS editor in chief Steve Hayes noted last night, “the big takeaway from this speech is it feels like the announcement of big-government Republicanism.”
Sure, there were a few bright spots. Trump noted that his administration has frozen hiring of nonessential federal employees and instituted a rule that requires two regulations must be eliminated for every new one put into place. He promised tax reform for businesses and tax relief for the middle class.
But that was as nothing compared with the real point of his speech, Trump’s vision of “making America great again” by making infrastructure great again.
Democratic politicians often complain that money used to fight costly wars abroad could be better spent at home on one or more of their pet projects. It’s unnerving to hear a Republican president utter the same sentiments. Trump has said repeatedly he wants to take power from Washington and give it back to the people. It’s a shame he doesn’t want to do the same with the increasing amount of money Americans send to the capital.
Trump said he will ask Congress to authorize $1 trillion in funding for his pet project: “Crumbling infrastructure will be replaced with new roads, bridges, tunnels, airports and railways gleaming across our beautiful land.” It wasn’t the only thing in his speech with a hefty price tag. “My administration wants to work with members in both parties to make childcare accessible and affordable, to help ensure new parents have paid family leave, to invest in women’s health, and to promote clean air and clear water, and to rebuild our military and our infrastructure,” he said. Trump complained repeatedly about costly wars but called for “one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history.” He also suggested he’d seek to put price controls on medicine, getting the government further into the business of health care, when he said he’d “work to bring down the artificially high price of drugs and bring them down immediately.” As my colleague Michael Warren noted, Trump didn’t indicate how he’d pay for all this. “And there was no talk of reforming Medicare or Social Security, nor of reducing the size and scope of government. He even seemed open to Medicaid expansion,” Warren pointed out.
Administration officials promised Trump’s first address to Congress would sound an “optimistic” note. “Naïve” would be a better word. “Everything that is broken in our country can be fixed. Every problem can be solved,” President Trump declared. That’s a view of politics and human nature to which no conservative could subscribe. In cheering that outlook and the expansion of government it entails, Tea Party Express has abandoned the principles that gave rise to an anti-establishment movement that scored victories in Congress and beyond—but might never see such influence again.
